Christina Bianco is truly the girl with a thousand voices! She proved it on Monday night during her Birthday Bash at Birdland - which was a jam-packed, super-fun extravaganza! Divas like Celine, Idina, Bernadette, Adele, even Drew Barrymore were represented by the Big Voice of Bianco - and happily, her own sound was an important part of the evening! Accompanied by Brad Simmons, there were songs by John Bucchino and Bobby & Kristen Anderson Lopez, special guests (Michael West, Tamara Paulino, Jessica Vosk, J.P. Hartmann, Jim Caruso and hubby Billy Ernst), and hilarious rants about being 'too cute.'
On Monday, January 27, Broadway, jazz and pop performers jammed Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland, as they have every Monday for the past ten years! The evening was made especially meaningful with the 5th 'Mentor Monday,' a monthly musical segment that pairs up and coming composers with established artists. Presenter Trevor McQueen combined Broadway's Lillias White with writers Ethan Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, a young songwriting team who began collaborating while touring with The Book of Mormon. The resulting performance was the song, 'Not Meant To Be in Love,' accompanied by Matt Aument, which gave Lillias ample opportunity to be vampy and campy and otherwise leave the audience helpless with laughter. It was a perfect way to introduce the community to Lyons & Pakchar's clever wordplay and catchy melodies!
Now through December 28, Michael Feinstein will be bringing his 'Holiday @ Birdland' to Birdland Jazz Club. Performances run December 24-26 (Tuesday-Thursday) at 9:00PM and December 27-28 (Saturday-Sunday) at 8:30PM & 11PM. Scroll down for photos from one of the concerts!
Now through December 28, Michael Feinstein will be bringing his 'Holiday @ Birdland' to Birdland Jazz Club. Performances run December 24-26 (Tuesday-Thursday) at 9:00PM and December 27-28 (Saturday-Sunday) at 8:30PM & 11PM. Scroll down for photos from one of the concerts!
New York City night club and cabaret venue Feinstein's at Loews Regency closed almost a year ago on December 31, 2012, and according to the New York Times, music legend Michael Feinstein is currently working on opening a new venue. Feinstein has teamed with Birdland owner Gianni Valenti to open 'Feinstein's on Broadway' in midtown Manhattan.
'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' opened with a bang on December 21! For the fourth year in a row, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch, Klea Blackhurst, and the band (Steve Doyle on bass and Carmen Intorre on drums) kick of Christmas week with their swinging holiday standards, and a few pieces of special material that are impossible to define! Opening night saw Broadway folk like Christine Ebersole, Colleen Zenk, Daniel Rowan and Andrea Prestonario leading the applause. Check out a look back below!
BIRDLAND RECORDS has announced the release of "A Swinging Birdland Christmas" CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. "A Swinging Birdland Christmas," stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics "It's The Holiday Season," "Sleigh Ride," and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.
BIRDLAND RECORDS has just announced the release of 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas,' stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics 'It's The Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,' among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.
Last night, the Broadway at Birdland concert series presented Broadway/television leading man Cheyenne Jackson on the stage of the historic music room for the first of two shows. The second show will take place tonight, Monday, December 2, at 9:15pm. This is the New York celebration for his recently-released album, 'I'm Blue, Skies.' Check out a look back at the evening below!
For the second week in a row, Lorna Luft brought her fund-raising 'Pink Party' to the Broadway at Birdland stage with thrilling results. After a recent bout with breast cancer, the award-winning performer decided to 'give back' with two sold-to-the-walls events benefitting The Actors Fund's Phyllis Newman Womens Health Initiative and the Tower Cancer Research Foundation's Dr. Philomena McAndrew Fund. BroadwayWorld brings you exclusive highlights from the evening below, including performances from Liza Minnelli, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nick Adams, and more!
For the second week in a row, Lorna Luft brought her fund-raising "Pink Party" to the Broadway at Birdland stage with thrilling results. After a recent bout with breast cancer, the award-winning performer decided to 'give back' with two sold-to-the-walls events benefitting The Actors Fund's Phyllis Newman Womens Health Initiative and the Tower Cancer Research Foundation's Dr. Philomena McAndrew Fund. Check out a look back!
The Actors Fund, the nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment, last night presented the 2013 edition of Nothing Like a Dame: Lorna's Pink Party, a benefit for the Phyllis NewmanWomen's Health Initiative and the Dr. Philomena McAndrew Fund of Tower Cancer Research Foundation. This highly anticipated event, starring entertainment legend Lorna Luft with her special guest Liza Minnelli will continue on Monday, October 21st at 7 pm, at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, New York City.
BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the concert below!
Over the past ten years, Jim Caruso's Cast Party has become the ultimate spot for show folk to mix, mingle and entertain themselves and the people who love them. It helps that Birdland, it's home base, has been a world-class music room since 1949, that the sound, lights, food and staff are all top-notch, and that the entertainers that drop in are accompanied by world-class musicians. This past Monday night, the cast of "Real Housewives of New York" joined in on the Cast Party fun. Music was made, fun was had, and there was some vamping, camping and scamping, what with series regulars LuAnn de Lesseps, Mario and Ramona Singer, Heather Thompson, and Sonja Morgan in the house. Ann Hampton Callaway created a fabulous impromptu song for the cast of characters, and Monica Mancini thrilled the crowd with two of her dad Henry's biggest hits, ably accompanied by Shelly Berg on piano and Dave Koz on sax. Beloved regulars like Christine Lavin, Therese Curatolo, Gabrielle Stravelli, T. Oliver Reid, Andrew Nemr, Lodi Carr, Jon Victor Corpus and Nancy Harms performed their hearts out. Jessica Keenan Wynn, Annika, Shane Stevens, Tabitha Fair, Cole Burden and Katherine Alcorn made brilliant debuts. Happily, Billy Stritch, Steve Doyle and Carmen Intorre were the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra, dazzling and accompanying everyone. Check out a look back below!
On Monday, September 9, the Broadway at Birdland concert series presented the return of Steven Brinberg as Simply Barbra in 'Mostly Marvin,' with very special guest star, Erik Altemus. Musical director for the event was Christopher Denny. Scroll down for photos from the evening!
The historic stage at Birdland was the spot that Broadway's Christopher Sieber chose to make his nightclub debut, which happened on Monday, September 2. The musical director for the evening was Joey Chancey, Eric Love was on cello, and the entire evening was directed by Fred Bracken. Check out a look back at Sieber's performance below!
On Monday, August 12, Julie Halston, the woman Rex Reed dubbed, "the funniest woman on the planet," returned to her Birdland roost with another performance of Classical Julie. Scroll down for photos from the concert!
On Sunday, August 11, Steve Kazee, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning star of ONCE, took to the Birdland stage with his band, The Shiny Liars (Lora Faye on guitar and Anthony Taddeo on percussion). Scroll down for photos from the concert!
On Monday, July 8, Stephanie J. Block performed the second of two sold-out shows at Birdland. As before, Block's co-stars from her various Broadway shows came to cheer, including Chita Rivera (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and Megan Hilty (Wicked).
The event should have been titled '520 Mondays.' On Monday, July 1, Birdland celebrated the tenth anniversary of 'Jim Caruso's Cast Party,' the unique and very extreme weekly open mic. Gianni Valenti, the owner of the historic music room, honored host Caruso with a Seth Walters portrait on the wall, usually reserved for jazz icons. (Caruso quipped, 'Somewhere, Charlie Parker is very uncomfortable.')
On Monday, June 17, composer Frank Wildhorn brought another installment of his popular 'Frank & Friends' concert to the Broadway at Birdland stage. For this outing, he brought a spectacular band and Broadway singers Teal Wicks (Jekyll & Hyde), Jackie Burns (Wicked) and Darren Ritchie (Wonderland) to celebrate the his Broadway and pop songbook. Scroll down for photos from the concert!
